A few years ago I found myself in southern Louisiana, near Houma. A fellow outdoor writer had invited me out to catch redfish down near Grand Isle. We hadn’t met up yet, and I needed lunch before I made the 70-mile drive down to the Gulf. I asked where I ought to get some food, and, after careful consultation with some locals drinking coffee and eating kolache, I set my truck toward Bayou Delight. It was exactly what I’d hoped it would be. A little grubby, very lived-in and dotted with sugar cane farmers and other random Cajuns, some speaking French.

I had just sat down in a booth when a gigantic man wearing a foot-long Bowie knife on his belt walked in with his petite, dark-haired wife and sat down in the booth next to me. Turns out he was a gator hunter. Sadly, I can’t remember this man’s name. We got to talking though, and when he learned I’d never eaten gator — although, oddly, I’d eaten crocodile in South Africa — he suggested I order Bayou Delight’s alligator sauce piquante. I did, along with a side order of fried alligator for good measure.

The gator hunter had set me in the right direction. I’d never eaten a sauce piquante (sauce pee-kahnt) before, and when it came it looked like red gumbo. It was about as thick as a gumbo, and was very tomatoey, with an island of white rice in the center and lots of diced gator floating around. It was spicy, but not blow-your-head-off spicy. I’d never eaten anything like it. Gumbo meets chili.

I told the gator hunter that finding alligator in California might be tough. “Oh, you can use anything you want,” he said. “Turtle, frogs, crawfish, chicken, venison…” Venison? That sounded like a plan.

When I returned home, I decided that I had to make it for myself.

Turns out a sauce piquante is indeed like a tomatoey gumbo. One of the generalizations about the difference between Cajun and Creole cooking it the presence of tomato; Creole cooking uses a lot of tomato, Cajun less so. Most Cajun gumbos have no tomato or very little. I say “most” because every cook has her own recipe. But sauce piquante is the exception: It is a tomato-based dish.

To make a sauce piquante, as in most things Cajun, you start with a dark roux (unless it is a seafood version, in which case the roux is stopped when it’s the color of peanut butter). The roux then cooks the trinity — onion, celery and green pepper. Tomato paste sometimes makes an appearance, but tomatoes themselves always do. The canned variety with green chiles made by Rotel shows up a lot in recipes. Red wine is in some versions (it’s in mine), and it’s always served with white rice and either parsley or green onions.

The alligator sauce piquante I had at Bayou Delight was unique in that the gator was diced small. If you’ve never eaten gator, it can be tough. Chewy. Like chicken meets shrimp meets clam. It’s an acquired taste. Dicing the meat small and long stewing fixes this, however. And it will do the same for venison, which has a tendency to become dry in stews.

Was my version better than Bayou Delight’s? Probably not, but I’d like to think it would make the Unnamed Gator Hunter happy. And since I can’t find him, you get to be the judge. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Venison Sauce Piquante

What follows is a general sauce piquante recipe. This Cajun stew uses whatever meat or seafood is available. I’ve seen recipes for sauce piquante using alligator, frog, crawfish, crabs, shrimp, chicken, venison, armadillo (!), squirrel, duck and goat. (I also have a snapping turtle sauce piquante recipe.) Suffice to say you can use anything.

The only thing I would suggest is to match meat with roux and wine. Light meats with a peanut butter-colored roux and white wine, dark meats with a dark (the color of dark chocolate) roux and red wine.

Always serve this with white rice. And remember, like all good stews, this one is better the day after it’s made.

Serves 6 to 8.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

1 cup peanut oil or lard

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped celery

5 garlic cloves

One 6-ounce can of tomato paste

1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, or more to taste

3-4 pounds venison or other meat, diced small

1 cup red wine

One 28-ounce can tomato puree or crushed tomatoes

4 bay leaves

Salt, black pepper and hot sauce to taste

Chopped green onions or parsley for garnish

__________

In a large, heavy pot like a Dutch oven, heat the peanut oil over medium-high heat for a minute or two. Stir in the flour, then turn the heat down to medium. Cook this roux, stirring often, until it turns the color of dark chocolate, about 15-20 minutes. Once the roux turns the color of peanut butter, you will need to stir it almost constantly to prevent it from burning.

While the roux is cooking, Heat 6 cups of water in another pot to the boiling point. Hold it at a simmer for now.

When the roux is ready, add the onions, celery and green pepper and stir to combine. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook this, stirring often, until everything is soft, about 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle some salt over everything while you do this. Add the garlic, Cajun seasoning and tomato past and stir to combine. Cook this, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes.

Mix in the venison, then add the cup of red wine, the can of crushed tomatoes and the hot water, stirring as you add. Add the bay leaves and bring this to a gentle simmer. Add salt and hot sauce to taste. Let this simmer very gently until the meat is tender, about 3 hours or more.

When the sauce piquante is ready, add any more salt, black pepper, hot sauce and/or Cajun seasoning you want, then serve it with white rice and lots of green onions or parsley. Make sure you have hot sauce at the table; I use Tabasco, but use whatever variety you prefer.

Sauce piquante is so important to my family that my dad and uncle named their old fishing and hunting camp “Camp Sauce Piquante.” You really can put anything in it, although we generally stick to seafood or turtle.

I love that Louisiana-everything is trending right now. I love my state. And I love that others love the food here so much that they recreate it.

Azita: Anything you want! Like I said, I’ve seen this recipe made with pretty much every kind of meat. Chicken is fine if that’s your druthers, but beef would work, as would pork, shrimp, crab, lobster, etc.

Hank that is a nice version of a southern Louisiana classic. I lived in Houma for a few years when I first graduated from college so I too learned to really love that type of cooking – and eating. My favorite sauce piquante though is turtle. Really good turtle meat is sweet with some other impulses that are hard to describe, but in this kind of sauce it is outstanding. From my point of view a stronger tasting meat works best. Chicken for me is not strong enough to compete with the sauce.

Looks good. I’ve only had it/made it with snapping turtle meat, but venison sounds like a good fit. Amazing how those basic Cajun recipes can be modied to the day’s catch, whether it be fish, fowl or “etc.” (I once made a very nice gumbo from a hooded merganser along with a collection of wood duck thighs & legs). Kepp these recipes coming!

I used to live less than a mile from Bayou Delight on Bayou Black Rd. It is great. Every Friday and Saturday night senior citizens gather and cajun dance. A truly unique experience. Didn’t try the gator sauce picante though.

Hi Hank! I bookmarked this one when you posted it and last week, I finally got around to making it. I’m on holiday in Namibia at the moment so I made it with some oryx pieces – it was just awesome! Thanks for the recipe.

Making this right now with beef and some mutton. Used a spanish wine and some serrano chiles to throw some spice into the mix. This is a pre-trial to see if can make this properly using the ducks I will hopefully bag next week ! Really excited to see how this turns out !

Made this today with some venison chilli meat I found in the freezer while making room for the buck I shot last week in South Texas. Turned out excellent. And the wife loved it, always a bonus. She added it to her favorites list.

Great use of venison stew meat. I was concerned about the meat being too lean and dry, but this worked. Day two and beyond the sauce is even better. My only tweaks were adding frozen turkey stock in lieu of some of the water and a smoked pork knuckle to deepen the flavor a bit. Glad I found this site!. Trying one of your backstrap recipes tonight.

I love all things Venison and Louisiana. As great as venison is in this dish, you simply have not had sauce piquante unless you’ve had rabbit sauce piquante at K-Paul’s (Paul Prudhomme’s) restaurant in New Orleans!

This has become my favorite recipe! The last time I made it I was a little short of venison to cut up so I improvised by using a pound of cubed venison, a pound of ground venison and two links of smoked kiebasa cut up. WOW!!! Thanks for sharing.

I live near Austin but grew up in Gonzales, LA. I once caught two snapping turtles mating in the swamp behind Mom and Dad’s and we made a big Sauce Piquant out of them while my uncles were their building Mom and Dad’s patio. We passed a good time yeah cher.

My uncle sent me five 1 lb pkgs of tenderized alligator meat from Florida. I am down to 3, and this recipe is gonna happen for us today for Father’s Day! My husband had to work but will be very happy when he gets home for dinner!